In voluntary carbon markets, buyers (like big companies with emissions) voluntarily purchase and trade in offsets generated from emissions reduction or removal projects elsewhere. And in early 2023 momentum was building for them, but that soon collapsed as evidence of greenwashing grew: forestry programs were significantly overestimating their value. Allegra Dawes at CSIS lays out the background before explaining that systems must be put in place … [Read more...]
Recyclable, plant-based glue cuts carbon footprint of Wind Turbines
Everyone knows that wind and solar have significant carbon footprints because of the energy and materials that go into the manufacture of their components. It’s why research continues on how to get that footprint down. Emily Mercer at NREL describes research there that has developed a glue, used to hold a wind turbine blade together, made of resin made from plant waste using a low-energy process, and is easily recycled. In contrast to the current … [Read more...]
France is subsidising made-in-EU EVs with low carbon footprints. Europe must follow
Last year, France announced new green eligibility rules for awarding subsidies to EVs. Starting this year, an incentive of €5,000-€7,000 will only be awarded to electric cars with a production carbon footprint below 14.75 tonnes of CO2. It’s a first in environmental policymaking which the EU should be delivering across the region, says Lucien Mathieu at T&E. And not just for environmental reasons. It will promote EVs made in Europe where … [Read more...]
CBAM is now active. A guide to what companies must do to comply
On October 1st 2023 the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) became effective. Its purpose is to limit carbon leakage by establishing a carbon price on imported goods that is equivalent to the carbon price on domestically produced goods. That means introducing a set of reporting and compliance obligations for importers of goods into the EU. Simon Göss and Hendrik Schuldt at carboneer explain the new mechanism and scope (aluminium, cement, … [Read more...]
Carbon Pricing: almost 25% of emissions now covered globally, but coverage and prices must rise further
Despite early scepticism, carbon pricing is making its mark globally. Today almost a quarter of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are covered by a carbon price, compared to just 7% ten years ago. 73 national and sub-national jurisdictions have carbon pricing, explain Joseph Pryor and Venkat Ramana Putti at The World Bank, writing for the Florence School of Regulation and quoting from the World Bank’s State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2023 … [Read more...]
Voluntary Carbon Markets in turmoil: what must be done to make carbon offsetting work?
Headlines like “Revealed: more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest certifier are worthless, analysis shows” tell of the big problems faced by Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCM). VCMs are markets for buying, selling, and investing in carbon credits tied to avoided, reduced, or removed greenhouse gas emissions. But they are struggling to define, measure, verify, and value carbon credits in an efficient, transparent, and standardised … [Read more...]
Electrochemical Carbon Capture: a cheaper one-step process, power by clean energy
Carbon capture is expensive. Hence continuous attempts in laboratories around the world to find new ways to capture CO2 that are simpler and cheaper. One problem with the traditional method is that it is a two-step process, and energy intensive (therefore powered by high-heat fossil fuels). Jennifer Chu at MIT describes a new electrochemical method that separates out CO2 in a single step, and it’s powered by clean energy. It’s particularly … [Read more...]
Could big U.S. subsidies for Hydrogen create perverse incentives, raise emissions?
There is a danger that the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) subsidies for hydrogen production (defined in provision 45V) may create perverse incentives that do not reduce emissions and may increase them. James Sallee at the Energy Institute at Haas explains why. The goal is to make “green” hydrogen powered by newly built clean energy. But what if the generously subsidised hydrogen is made from clean energy (new or not) that should be powering … [Read more...]
Germany plans for Carbon Capture in Industry: emissions, potentials, costs
In the first article of this series, Simon Göss and Hendrik Schuldt at carboneer gave the background to Germany’s new drive for carbon capture, and summarised the industrial sectors that will be its focus. Here, the authors analyse the emission profiles of German industries (in particular: steel, cement, lime, chemicals, waste incineration) and the associated CCS potentials and costs. The first thing to note is that it’s the process emissions … [Read more...]
Carbon Capture: how all Germany’s captured CO2 can be used by the Chemical industry
The German government is promising to publish a strategy on carbon capture, opening a door that has previously been closed to developing this technology. In the first of a series of articles, Simon Göss and Hendrik Schuldt at carboneer look at why the nation is changing its mind, before laying out the reasons why carbon capture will be essential for Germany to meet its emissions goals. Unlike the power grid, there’s no easy way to decarbonise … [Read more...]
Draft EU rules on Battery lifecycle decarbonisation: close the loopholes!
Draft rules mean battery manufacturers selling into Europe will have to report the product’s entire carbon footprint, from mining to production to recycling, as early as July 2024. That data will then be used to set a maximum CO2 limit for batteries to apply from the end of 2027. This is a big step forward, says T&E, addressing concerns over battery carbon footprint and recycling, and it also covers environment and human rights. But T&E … [Read more...]
EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework: new rules to turn greenwashing into genuine removals
The EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework intends to drive forward technological and natural carbon removals, and prevent greenwashing through robust standards and certification procedures. It’s to deal with the existing poorly monitored carbon removals market: the lack of oversight, transparency, trustworthiness, and genuine climate impact (additionality) of projects and certificates. Simon Göss at carboneer looks at the current proposals, … [Read more...]
CO2 emissions from Land Use: country-level data for turning “emitters” into “sinks”
Until carbon capture technologies take off (if at all!), the world’s CO2 removals depend entirely on nature. Clemens Schwingshackl, Wolfgang Obermeier and Julia Pongratz at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, writing for Carbon Brief, review the latest data on “carbon fluxes” which measure whether the land is a net “source” of carbon or a “sink.” Flux measurements are categorised: deforestation, forestation, wood-harvest emissions, removals … [Read more...]
IEA’s new CCUS projects database: a tool for driving much needed progress
The IEA has made available for the first time its CCUS projects database. The number of countries with plans to develop CCUS now stands at 45, with seven more countries - in central and southern Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia – joining the list in 2022. The database covers CO2 capture, transport, storage, and utilisation projects worldwide commissioned since the 1970s, and have an announced capacity of more than 100,000 tonnes/year … [Read more...]
Embodied Carbon Emissions: understanding the different methodologies being used around the world
The measurement of the embodied carbon emissions of goods tells us what greenhouse gas emissions are generated during the production and transportation of those goods. This achieves two main things. Firstly, it allows producers to understand where their emissions are coming from, and so reduce them. Secondly, it opens the door to putting a price on those emissions, thus incentivising producers to reduce them. But, as Max Gruenig at E3G explains, … [Read more...]